Online Marketing Pitfalls

Don't Make These Common Mistakes:

No E-mail Responsiveness: There are many web sites out there that have no means of allowing you to send e-mail to their business. If you wish to succeed, you should always have a means of allowing your visitors to contact you. On every page there should be at least one address - the webmaster's address. On every page their should be a link to some form of contact information. Your contact page should include phone numbers (unless you work out of your home and you share the same phone number for your business - definitely not advisable). Yet, most importantly your contact page should include e-mail addresses so the visitor can get information being sought. You never know, you may even be blessed with a customer that asks for a specific product you don't carry and thereby creating a new product line just from one letter. I recently visited a bank's web site and attempted to write a particular department. Oddly enough that email came back as not a valid address.
Failure to Maintain Consistency Between Marketing Efforts: Believe it or not, there are businesses out there that fail to remain consistent between their traditional marketing plans and their cyber-marketing plans. This behavior could result in lost business.
Lost in Cyberspace: All too often, web sites fail to provide adequate navigational tools to move around on their sites. I, recently, was asked to evaluate a web site for a local business. After I got done with the evaluation there were thirteen areas of concern, of which navigation was on the top of the list. From the way the site worked, it seemed that navigation was the last thing considered by their designer.

Another way to be lost in cyberspace is to fail to get your web site listed in the various search engines and directories. I always recommend my clients to purchase WebPosition Gold, click on the graphic to the left, from me when I design their sites and they don't want me to optimize their site for the search engines. This tool will help you in optimizing your site for the search engines. It is impossible to have too many links to your web site or to be in too many browser bookmark files.
No Sign of Humans: There are sites out there that seem as if they have been created by some form of computer intelligence. What one should do is ensure there is some evidence that people do exist in the business. This could come in the form of employee names, humor, tidbits of local information, and other asundry items. Probably the most important is to write in conversational styles and not in a style that would seem monotoned.
No Target Marketing: In cyberspace people look for specific information. With the vast amount of information available, failing to have a target market is like shooting a shotgun at the side of the barn. You are bound to hit something, but is it what you really want to hit? Mass marketing is on its way out the door as fast and specialized marketing is on its way in. This may not seem like it is with all the unsolicited email you get from "spammers," but assuredly it fails more often that it succeeds.

Contact us today at 405-329-8500 or use our contact form to schedule a demo and learn if Merchant Metrix is right for your business.

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